The New York Knicks have had one glaring weakness in their 23-10 start to the season: perimeter defense. They have had big problems at defending the three-point line this season, and it became even more apparent in their New Year’s Eve loss to the San Antonio Spurs.
Knicks’ defense against the Spurs was dreadful
San Antonio lit up New York from three, especially Julian Champagnie. The forward knocked down a Spurs franchise record 11 threes, making up for all but three of the team’s total makes from beyond the arc.
It’s one thing if a guy catches fire, but the Knicks offered no resistance defensively to slow him down. Oftentimes, he was left wide open on the wings and had an easy, clean look at the basket to knock down the shot.
The most jarring moment of the game came in the fourth quarter, when Champagnie knocked down a big three on a fastbreak to cut the Knicks’ lead to five. Afterwards, head coach Mike Brown was seen berating Tyler Kolek for dropping back on defense instead of picking up the hot shooter.
The Knicks couldn’t get stops inside the arc either, as they committed way too many fouls to give the Spurs 40 free throw attempts on the night. Karl-Anthony Towns fouled out in the fourth quarter after recording three fouls in the period.
The Knicks need to be better defensively
Following the game, Brown talked about the lack of defense that has hurt them on many occasions this season.
“We pick up some silly fouls. We’ve not been able to sustain anything defensively for 48 minutes. We’ve won a lot and it feels good, but if we can’t do that it’ll catch up to us,” Brown said, via James L. Edwards III of The Athletic.
The Knicks currently rank second in the league in offensive rating, but only 16th in defensive rating. A defensive rating that low is usually not good enough for a title contending team to reach its ultimate goal, and a lot of their problems defensively come at the perimeter.
Whether a trade or a change of scheme is needed, something has got to give on the defensive side of the ball. They will look to improve on that end on Friday, when they head back home to take on the Atlanta Hawks.